Cook’s NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day Gambling Picks

Valentine’s Day becomes Vengeance Day when NXT presents the latest Takeover, and Steve Cook is here with your gambling (and more) picks!

If there’s one good thing about NXT TakeOver becoming an Orlando-only event, it gives us more fun names for the show. Weren’t you getting tired of every TakeOver being named after whatever city or state they happened to be in? Vengeance Day is an awesome name for a Valentine’s Day event and a throwback to many classic WWE Vengeance PPVs from the 2000s.

As usual, we’ve got a stacked card. Three championship matches and two tag team tournament finals. There were only odds for two matches available from betwwe.com when I submitted this column, so make sure to keep your eyes out for other odds for entertainment purposes.

Dakota Kai/Raquel Gonzalez vs Ember Moon/Shotzi Blackheart

The winner of the first Dusty Rhodes Women’s Tag Team Classic will receive a shot at the Women’s Tag Team Championship. As it stands, the current Women’s Tag Team Champions are Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler, so Ember & Shotzi would make more sense as a match for them. However, the current top contenders are Lana & Naomi, and their winning the championship prior to the winner of this match getting a shot would definitely change my thought process.

It seems like big things are in store for Gonzalez, and a win here would give Dakota & her an accomplishment they can point to. Which, to be honest, Dakota doesn’t have that many of during her time in NXT. Some are speculating they’ll split prior to Raquel getting a push, which would put them in the same boat as the first winners of the men’s Dusty Classic: Finn Balor & Samoa Joe. Dakota & Raquel are the pick here.

MSK vs. Grizzled Young Veterans

We’ve got two tag teams here that have extensive experience teaming with each other & have won gold most places they’ve been. MSK were formerly two-thirds of the Rascalz, and their performance in this tournament briefly after their arrival at the PC tells you that there’s a bright future for the men now known as Wes Lee & Nash Carter. That being said, I think it’s James Drake & Zack Gibson’s time, and the Grizzled Young Veterans will add another tournament championship to their mantle.

NXT Women’s Championship: Io Shirai vs Toni Storm vs Mercedes Martinez

NXT does love their triple threat women’s title matches. Io won the championship in a match against Charlotte Flair & Rhea Ripley, where most of the attention prior was focused on Charlotte & Rhea. Nowadays, all the attention is focused on Io, as she has two dangerous competitors vying for her strap.

They’re certainly deserving contenders as well. Mercedes says this is twenty years in the making for her, and winning the NXT Women’s Championship would be the culmination of her career. Toni is in her twenties and sees the championship as a springboard to bigger & better things. I see both women coming up short, as Io Shirai has already proven her worth in this style of match and can overcome any opponent.

NXT North American Championship: Johnny Gargano (-225) vs Kushida (+165)

There was some concern that Johnny Wrestling’s injuries would lead to him being held out of this show and this match would be postponed. Either his right or left arm was injured, he was in a wheelchair, it was the talk of the Internet. Fortunately, Johnny Wrestling will be ready to go this Sunday against Kushida, who’s pretty stiff competition even when you’re 100%.

Unfortunately for Kushida, Johnny Gargano is on quite the roll. He’s also got a good amount of backup in Austin Theory, Indi Hartwell & Candice LeRae. My prediction: The Garganos have a Happy Vengeance Day while Kushida looks for a time machine so he can find some old friends to even the sides.

NXT Championship: Finn Balor (-200) vs Pete Dunne (+150)

I know it’s kind of whacky to consider Balor’s current title reign as “lengthy” since we’re not even a year removed from Adam Cole finally losing the championship after 403 recognized days. Not even 160 feels like a drop in the bucket compared to that. But doesn’t it feel like Balor’s been champion for a long time? Besides “another Kyle O’Reilly match”, what are we clamoring for here? He does have more name value than your average NXT competitor, but has he added that many eyeballs to their show? The evidence doesn’t exactly show that, which is kind of a shame because he’s had some really good matches.

Pete Dunne would be a fine choice to take the belt off of Balor. My wish is that Pat McAfee returns at this show and helps Dunne win, so McAfee can cut promos on NXT television every week. It was my favorite thing about the show for a minute there. I think it’s more likely that Balor wins, but putting the title on a heel heading into WrestleMania season isn’t the worst idea. I don’t think anybody in the world believes that Edge is challenging for the this title at WrestleMania, so that doesn’t even factor into my thinking here.

I’m rolling with Pete Dunne.